celebrity radar - gossips
How i got appointed as the special adviser to the president on media and publicity – Femi Adeshina
In this interview with SAHARA TV monitored by ENIOLA
AKINKUOTU, the newly appointed Special Adviser to the
President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, who
is also the immediate past Managing Director of The SUN
and President of the Nigeria Guild of Editors, speaks
about his appointment
Are you excited about your appointment?
– Well, it is a call to service and one should be thankful
when called to serve one’s country.
With this appointment will you be switching sides that is,
from scrutinising the government to defending the
government?
– Let me first of all examine what you said, that I will
switch sides from scrutinising to defending the
government. No. The scrutinising part will still be part of
my duty. Before I can speak for the government, I must
first scrutinise the decisions and the policies and then
make an input before I can then defend. So, it is not a
total switch. There must still be a lot of scrutinising
because anything I am going to defend, I have got to be
able to understand it, agree with it and see the rationale
behind it before I can defend it. So, it is not a total
switch.
So, what if you do not agree with a policy? How will you
approach it?
– If I don’t agree with a policy, I will first ask for an
explanation and when I am given the explanation, I will
make my input. But then, my input does not have to
override what may be in the public interest or what is in
the interest of the larger number of people. My opinion
might not necessarily be the correct one. So, when such
challenges come, you have to weigh it and say, is it in
the larger interest of the people, is it in the interest of the
country? Will it eventually result in a better standard of
living for the people? That is the way to look at it. It
doesn’t have to be something I must agree with all the
time. I should be able to appraise the decisions that have
been made and seek to understand them and then make
my contribution as necessary.
There are reports that you know President Muhammadu
Buhari very closely. What is your relationship with him?
– I will say yes. The President is somebody that I have
admired for a long time since he was a military ruler.
When he was a military ruler, I was already in my third
year in the university. So, I can say I knew him and his
style and I liked it. I felt sorry when his government was
overthrown. So, when he came back into partisan politics
in 2003, it was something that was very exciting for me
and since then, I have been supporting him. I am a
journalist and I write a weekly column. I have been
pointing Nigerians in his direction since 2003. And
whenever I wrote anything in his (Buhari’s) support, he
would call me on the phone and we would discuss and he
would thank me. I remember in 2009 or thereabout when
Prof. Tam David-West wrote a book on Buhari and it was
to be presented at the Nigerian Institute of International
Affairs. I was the master of ceremony of the occasion so
we got to speak and know each other better. That was the
first time I would meet him (Buhari) in person. Thereafter,
he ran for President in 2011 and I still wrote in my column
that I thought he was the best person to rule Nigeria and
bring a change. Whenever I wrote those things, he would
call me and he would thank me and we would talk.
So, eventually, in August 2013, I lost my mother and we
needed to do her funeral. So, I sent Buhari an invitation
card. The service was in Lagos and lo and behold, before
the service started, he drove in. It was a pleasant
surprise. It was a Christian service and he sat through it.
Those who had said that he was a religious bigot were
shocked. This was a Muslim man that came for a
Christian service and attended the full service and yet
they were saying he was a religious bigot. So, that act
cemented our relationship because after the event, I
phoned him the next day and thanked him but he said he
was the one that should be grateful because he had never
given me a kobo and yet I always gave him all the
support. He said there were people that could pay me
millions of naira for such support but I had decided to
pitch my tent with somebody that could not give me
anything. So, that cemented our relationship.
You know, in 2011, he said he would not contest the
Presidency again but in the run up to the 2015 election, I
felt he should still run and I wrote that the fact that he
said in 2011 that he would not run again could not be
carved in concrete and he could change his mind if he
wanted and the rest, they say, is history. He changed his
mind, he ran and he won. Significantly, on the night that
he was declared the winner, my phone rang around
midnight and one of our leaders in the media called and
said, ‘Please hold on for Gen. Muhammadu Buhari’. I was
shocked and when he spoke to me, he said he
appreciated my support throughout the campaigns and
now that victory had come his way, he just wanted to say
thank you. So, that was how it played out.
How did you get the appointment? Did he call you or were
you interviewed?
After he had been declared winner and after he had called
me on the telephone, I deliberately stayed away from him
for two reasons. The first was because I knew he would
be under a lot of pressure. A lot of people would be
calling to congratulate him and probably seeking one
thing or the other. So, I think from that night, which was
March 31, I deliberately stayed away from him because I
did not want to add to the pressure that would be on him
and secondly, I didn’t want it to be that I was seeking a
position in his government. I am a born again Christian
and I want anything that happens or comes my way to be
what God has ordained. I don’t push anything; I don’t
lobby for anything so I kept my distance from him. But
then, people around him kept talking to me and kept
telling me that they believed I was the best person to be
the spokesman for the incoming President. However, I did
not give any commitment for two reasons. The first, as I
said earlier, was that I didn’t want to lobby and secondly,
I have a job that I enjoy doing: Managing Director/Editor-
in-Chief of one of the leading newspapers in the country,
The Sun, and then I was also the President of the Nigeria
Guild of Editors. Those are high calibre jobs and
responsibilities. So, I wasn’t looking for a job but then
people around me kept talking to me till eventually, there
was some sort of interview but I would not say it was a
direct interview but people singled me out to say, ‘Well, if
you are invited to serve in government, will you serve?’.
My conviction had always been that I would never serve
in a government except one headed by Muhammadu
Buhari. So, when they singled me out, I told them I didn’t
think I wanted to serve in the government but since it is
Muhammadu Buhari, I will consider it. But I also
reminded them that I also have a job and I have to consult
with my publisher (Orji Uzor Kalu) and I have to seek his
blessings. Reluctantly too, my publisher gave his
blessings. He told me that they would not know the
sacrifice he had made by letting me go but since it is a
service to the country, I have his blessings. So, I got back
to them and told them yes, that I had sought my
publisher’s blessing and the next I heard was the
announcement that I had been appointed Special Adviser
on Media and Publicity.
You will be going into the job in a changing media
landscape. You will grapple with the social media and the
traditional media. How do you hope to navigate these two
worlds?
I would rather refer to the social media as digital media
because the social media is just a variant of the digital
media. Nobody can do anything successfully in the media
today without factoring in the digital media. The social
media, the digital media and every other thing will be
used together. You would have seen the role they played
in the campaigns. You could feel the pulse of the
electorate and could already discern the direction the
election would follow by merely following the digital
media, particularly the social aspect of that digital media.
It played a major role in the campaigns and there is no
way you are going to ignore it. The traditional media has
its place because there are people who are still glued to
it. But the younger generation uses the digital media so
you then need to use all the avenues to reach the people.
So far, what do the media headlines regarding Buhari’s
administration say to you about what you are going to be
dealing with on the job?
I will tell you it is no tea party. It is going to be a hectic
work but then it is going to be me working for somebody
that I believe in. So, I guess I will have to throw my all
into it. I am under no illusion that the job is going to be
easy or a picnic. It will not be. But I will throw my all into
it and as long as my principal remains who he is:
straight, accountable, focused and someone who wants
to effect a change in the country, I guess we will get it
done. When you have a good product, the marketing is
easier.
Have you spoken with previous government spokesmen
like Mr. Reuben Abati and Mr. Segun Adeniyi?
I have spoken with Segun Adeniyi (the late President
Umaru Yar’adua’s spokesman); I have spoken with Ima
Niboro who was former President Goodluck Jonathan’s
first spokesman; but I have not spoken to Reuben Abati.
What advice did they give you?
They gave me an insight into how to do the job
successfully. I have spoken with Segun more than once
but I have spoken with Ima Niboro just once. I will meet
with Segun again and we will talk.
Why Babangida’s Hilltop Home Became Nigeria’s Political “Mecca”.
By George Omagbemi Sylvester | Published by SaharaWeeklyNG.com
Former President Goodluck Jonathan’s birthday visit to Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) in Minna (where he hailed the octogenarian as a patriotic leader committed to national unity) was more than a courtesy call. It was a reminder of a peculiar constant in Nigerian politics: the steady pilgrimage of power-seekers, bridge-builders and crisis-managers to the Hilltop mansion. Jonathan’s own words captured it bluntly: IBB’s residence “is like a Mecca of sorts” because of the former military president’s enduring relevance and perceived nation-first posture.
Babangida turned 84 on 17 August 2025. That alone invites reflection on a career that has shaped Nigeria’s political architecture for four decades; admired by some for audacious statecraft, condemned by others for controversies that still shadow the republic. Born on 17 August 1941 in Minna, he ruled as military president from 1985 to 1993, presiding over transformative and turbulent chapters: the relocation of the national capital to Abuja in 1991; the creation of political institutions for a long, complex transition; economic liberalisation that cut both ways; and the fateful annulment of the 12 June 1993 election. Each of these choices helps explain why the Hilltop remains a magnet for Nigerians who need counsel, cover or calibration.
A house built on influence; why the visits never stop.
Let’s start with the obvious: access. Nigeria’s political class prizes proximity to the men and women who can open doors, soften opposition, broker peace and read the hidden currents. In that calculus, IBB’s network is unmatched. He cultivated a reputation for “political engineering,” the reason the press christened him “Maradona” (for deft dribbling through complexity) and “Evil Genius” (for the strategic cunning his critics decried). Whether one embraces or rejects those labels, they reflect a reality: Babangida is still the place where many politicians go to test ideas, seek endorsements or secure introductions. Even the mainstream press has described him as a consultant of sorts to desperate or ambitious politicians, an uncomfortable description that nevertheless underlines his gravitational pull.
Though it isn’t only political tact that draws visitors; it’s statecraft with lasting fingerprints. Moving the seat of government from Lagos to Abuja in December 1991 was not a cosmetic relocation, it re-centred the federation and signaled a symbolic neutrality in a country fractured by regional suspicion. Abuja’s founding logic (GEOGRAPHIC CENTRALITY and ETHNIC NEUTRALITY) continues to stabilise the national imagination. This is part of the reason many leaders, across party lines, still defer to IBB: he didn’t just rule; he rearranged the map of power.
Then there’s the regional dimension. Under his watch, Nigeria led the creation and deployment of ECOMOG in 1990 to staunch Liberia’s bloody civil war, a bold move that announced Abuja as a regional security anchor. The intervention was imperfect, contested and costly, but it helped define West Africa’s collective security posture and Nigeria’s leadership brand. When neighboring states now face crises, the memory of that precedent still echoes in diplomatic corridors and Babangida’s counsel retains currency among those who remember how decisions were made.
Jonathan’s praise and the unity argument.
Jonathan’s tribute (stressing Babangida’s non-sectional outlook and commitment to unity) goes to the heart of the Hilltop mystique. For a multi-ethnic federation straining under distrust, figures who can speak across divides are prized. Jonathan’s point wasn’t nostalgia; it was a live assessment of a man many still call when Nigeria’s seams fray. That’s why the parade to Minna continues: the anxious, the ambitious and the statesmanlike alike seek an elder who can convene rivals and cool temperatures.
The unresolved shadow: June 12 and the ethics of influence.
No honest appraisal can skip the hardest chapter: the annulment of the 12 June 1993 election (judged widely as free and fair) was a rupture that delegitimised the transition and scarred Nigeria’s democratic journey. Political scientist Larry Diamond has repeatedly identified June 12 as a prime example of how authoritarian reversals corrode democratic legitimacy and public trust. His larger warning (“few developments are more destructive to the legitimacy of new democracies than blatant and pervasive political corruption”) captures the moral crater that followed the annulment and the years of drift that ensued. Those wounds are part of the Babangida legacy too and they complicate the reverence that a steady stream of visitors displays.
Max Siollun, a leading historian of Nigeria’s military era, has observed (provocatively) that the military’s “greatest contribution” to democracy may have been to rule “long and badly enough” that Nigerians lost appetite for soldiers in power. It’s a stinging line, yet it helps explain the paradox of IBB’s status: the same system he personified taught Nigeria costly lessons that hardened its democratic reflexes. Today’s generation visits the Hilltop not to revive militarism but to harvest hard-won insights about managing a fragile federation.
What sustains the pilgrimage.
1) Institutional memory: Nigeria’s politics often suffers amnesia. Babangida offers a living archive of security crises navigated, regional diplomacy attempted, volatile markets tempered and power-sharing experiments designed. Whether one applauds or condemns specific choices, the muscle memory of governing a complex federation is rare and urgently sought.
2) Convening power: In a season of polarisation, the ability to sit warring factions in the same room is not small capital. Babangida’s imprimatur remains a safe invitation card few refuse it, fewer ignore it. That convening power explains why movements, parties and would-be presidents keep filing up the long driveway. Recent delegations have explicitly cast their courtesy calls in the language of unity, loyalty and patriotism ahead of pivotal elections.
3) Signals to the base: Visiting Minna telegraphs seriousness to party structures and funders. It says: “I have sought counsel where history meets experience.” In Nigeria’s coded political theatre, that signal still matters. Outlets have reported for years that many aspirants treat the Hilltop as an obligatory stop an unflattering reality, perhaps, but a revealing one.
4) The man and the myth: The mansion itself, with its opulence and aura, has become a set piece in Nigeria’s story of power, admired by some, resented by others, but always discussed. The myth feeds the pilgrimage; the pilgrimage feeds the myth.
The balance sheet at 84.
To treat Babangida solely as a sage is to forget the costs of his era; to treat him only as a villain is to ignore the architecture that still holds parts of Nigeria together. Abuja’s relocation stands as a stabilising bet that paid off. ECOMOG, for all its flaws, seeded a habit of regional responsibility. Conversely, June 12 remains a national cautionary tale about elite manipulation, civilian marginalisation and the brittleness of transitions managed from above. These are not contradictory truths; they are the double helix of Babangida’s place in Nigerian memory.
Jonathan’s homage tried to distill the better angel of IBB’s record: MENTORSHIP, BRIDGE-BUILDING and a POSTURE that (at least in his telling) RESISTS SECTIONAL ISM. “That is why today, his house is like a Mecca of sorts,” he said, praying that the GENERAL continues to “mentor the younger ones.” Whether one agrees with the full sentiment, it accurately describes the lived politics of Nigeria today: Minna remains a checkpoint on the road to relevance.
The scholar’s verdict and a citizen’s challenge.
If Diamond warns about legitimacy and Siollun warns about the perils of soldier-politics, what should Nigerians demand from the Hilltop effect? Three things.
First, use influence to open space, not close it. Counsel should tilt toward rules, institutions and credible elections not kingmaking for its own sake. The lesson of 1993 is that subverting a valid vote haunts a nation for decades.
Second, mentor for unity, but insist on accountability. Unity cannot be a euphemism for silence. A truly patriotic elder statesman sets a high bar for conduct and condemns the shortcuts that tempt new actors in old ways. Diamond’s admonition on corruption is not an abstraction; it’s a roadmap for rebuilding trust.
Third, convert nostalgia into institutional memory. If Babangida’s house is a classroom, then Nigeria should capture, publish and debate its lessons in the open: on peace operations (what worked, what failed), on capital relocation (how to plan at scale), and on transitions (how not to repeat 1993). Only then does the pilgrimage serve the republic rather than personalities.
At 84, Ibrahim Babangida remains a paradox that Nigeria cannot ignore: a man whose legacy straddles NATION-BUILDING and NATION-BRUISING, whose doors remain open to those seeking power and those seeking peace. Jonathan’s visit (and his striking “Mecca” metaphor) reveals a simple, stubborn fact: in a country still searching for steady hands, the Hilltop’s shadow is long. The task before Nigeria is to ensure that the shadow points toward a brighter constitutional daybreak, where influence is finally subordinated to institutions and where mentorship hardens into norms that no single mansion can monopolise. That is the only pilgrimage worth making.
Ajadi Celebrates Juju Legend Femolancaster’s 50th Birthday in the UK
Nigerian Juju music legend, Otunba Femi Fadipe, popularly known as FemoLancaster, is being celebrated today in London as he clocks 50 years of age.
Ambassador Olufemi Ajadi Oguntoyinbo, a frontline politician and businessman, led tributes to the Ilesa-born maestro, describing him as a timeless cultural icon whose artistry has enriched both Nigeria and the world.
“FemoLancaster is not just a musician, he is a legend,” Ambassador Ajadi said in his birthday message. “For decades, his classical Juju sound has remained a reminder of the beauty of Yoruba heritage. Today, as he turns 50, I celebrate a cultural ambassador whose music bridges generations and continents.”
While FemoLancaster is highly dominant in Oyo State and across the South-West, his craft has also taken him beyond Nigeria’s borders.
FemoLancaster’s illustrious career has seen him thrill audiences across Nigeria and beyond, with performances in the United Kingdom, Canada, United States of America, and other parts of the world. His dedication to Juju music has projected Yoruba traditional sounds to international stages, keeping alive the legacy of icons like King Sunny Ade and Chief Ebenezer Obey while infusing fresh energy for younger audiences
He further stressed the significance of honoring artistes who have remained faithful to indigenous music while taking it global. “In an era where modern sounds often overshadow tradition, FemoLancaster stands as a beacon of continuity and resilience. He has carried Yoruba Juju music into the global space with dignity, passion, and excellence,” he added.
The golden jubilee celebration in London has drawn fans, friends, and colleagues, who all describe FemoLancaster as a gifted artist whose contributions over decades have earned him a revered place in the pantheon of Nigerian music legends.
“As FemoLancaster marks this milestone,” Ajadi concluded, “I wish him many more years of good health, wisdom, and global recognition. May his music continue to echo across generations and continents.”
celebrity radar - gossips
Gospel Songstress Esther Igbekele Marks Birthday with Gratitude and Celebration
Gospel Songstress Esther Igbekele Marks Birthday with Gratitude and Celebration
By Aderounmu Kazeem Lagos
Lagos, Nigeria — The gospel music scene is aglow today as the “Duchess of Gospel Music,” Esther Igbekele, marks another milestone in her life, celebrating her birthday on Saturday, August 16, 2025.
Known for her powerful voice, inspirational lyrics, and unwavering dedication to spreading the gospel through music, Esther Igbekele has become one of Nigeria’s most respected and beloved gospel artistes. Over the years, she has graced countless stages, released hit albums, and inspired audiences across the world with her uplifting songs.
Today’s celebration is expected to be a joyful blend of music, prayers, and heartfelt tributes from family, friends, fans, and fellow artistes. Sources close to the singer revealed that plans are in place for a special praise gathering in Lagos, where she will be joined by notable figures in the gospel industry, church leaders, and admirers from home and abroad.
Speaking ahead of the day, Igbekele expressed deep gratitude to God for His mercy and the opportunity to use her gift to touch lives. “Every birthday is a reminder of God’s faithfulness in my journey. I am thankful for life, for my fans, and for the privilege to keep ministering through music,” she said.
From her early beginnings in the Yoruba gospel music scene to her rise as a celebrated recording artiste with a unique fusion of contemporary and traditional sounds, Esther Igbekele’s career has been marked by consistency, excellence, and a strong message of hope.
As she adds another year today, her fans have flooded social media with messages of love, appreciation, and prayers — a testament to the profound impact she continues to make in the gospel music ministry.
For many, this birthday is not just a celebration of Esther Igbekele’s life, but also of the divine inspiration she brings to the Nigerian gospel music landscape.
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